2019 (9) TMI 16
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....uties of central excise paid in cash and no different from similar unutilized balance in the 'personal ledger account'. 3. None appeared for the appellants. 4. Learned Authorised Representative places reliance on the decision of the Tribunal in Voltas Ltd v. Commissioner of Central Excise [2018-TIOL-3092-CESTAT-MUM]. A number of other precedent decisions of the Tribunal on similar lines were also referred to. 5. In the written submission of the Learned Counsel for the appellant, reliance has been placed on the decision of the Tribunal in Commissioner of Customs v. Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd [2005 (190) ELT 40 (Tri. Del.)], Commissioner of Central Excise, Ahmedabad - I v. Arcoy Industries [2004 (170) ELT 507 (Tri.Mumbai)], Gauri Plasticulture (P) Ltd v. Commissioner Central Excise, Indore [2006 (202) ELT 199 (Tri.-LB)], AG Export Industries v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Bangalore [2007 (212) ELT 421 (Tri.Bang.)] as well as that of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka in Union of India v. Slovak India Trading Co Pvt Ltd [2006 (201) ELT 559 (Kar.)]. 6. It is seen that the Tribunal, in re Bombay Burmah Trading Corpn Ltd and in re Arcoy Industries, was conside....
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.... a detailed reference in the foregoing paragraphs. 31. The sheet anchor of Mr.Patil's arguments is the judgment of the earlier Division Bench of this court and that is based on the view taken by the High Court of Karnataka. The High Court of Karnataka has not discussed the scheme of Cenvat Credit in details. The South Zonal Bench of the CESTAT in Slovak India (supra) considered the case of refund of un-utilised Cenvat Credit on account of closure of the factory of the said Slovak India. The Commissioner (Appeals) took the view that there is no provision in Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules to grant cash refund. After being approached, what the CESTAT observed is that there is a consistent view taken by the tribunal that such claim is eligible and the assessee can seek refund when it goes out of the Modvat scheme (predecessor of Cenvat) or the unit is closed. This is the reasoning in the tribunal's order and though the appeal of the Revenue before the High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru raised several grounds and pleas, the High Court referred to the arguments and in para 4 of its order, reproduced Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2002. In para 5, the reasoning of the Hi....
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....Hon'ble Supreme Court and the order passed on that Special Leave Petition reads as under:- "Delay condoned. We find no reason to interfere with the impugned order in exercise of our discretion under Article 136 of the Constitution. The Special Leave Petition is, accordingly, dismissed leaving the question of law open." 35. The Special Leave Petition was dismissed, but the question of law was expressly kept open. It is in these circumstances that we are not in agreement with Mr.Patil that the issue or the controversy before us stands concluded against the Revenue. The question of law was still open to be raised and equally examined by us. There is no question of judicial discipline in such matters. The counsel relied upon this principle of judicial discipline by inviting our attention to the judgment of the Hon'ble Rajasthan High Court in the case of Welcure Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Central Excise, Jaipur reported in 2018 (15) GST Law Times Page 257 = 2018-TIOL-380-HC-RAJCX. There, the Hon'ble Rajasthan High Court concluded that the Revenue cannot seek to urge before that High Court that the view taken by four different High Court....
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....he authority to levy and collect duty of excise in section 3 of Central Excise Act, 1944. 8. Thus the scheme, with the avowed objective of preventing the cascading effects of tax, allows discharge of tax liability from two sources: the cash deposit known as 'account current' and from the credit of the tax already collected from the production chain known as 'CENVAT credit account' with the latter as an option to be used fully or partially in each instance. This is also in pursuance of the constitutional power to tax manufacture and provides the mechanism to restrict the actual payment to the contribution of an assessee to the production chain. At the root is the resting of the tax burden on the ultimate consumer, which could either be the entity that is not a registered assessee or an assessee who is beyond the ambit of Central Excise Act, 1944. We are not here concerned with the former. As far as the latter is concerned, the assessee is within the authority of Central Excise Act, 1944 only to the extent that it produces excisable goods or is in possession of such goods that are yet to be cleared. Without production in process or without possession of processed goods, an a....
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